What Are Nidoviruses That Can Cause Another Pandemic? Explained

German Cancer Research Center scientists caution that genetic recombination between distinct viruses could result in the creation of new, more dangerous pathogens. Researchers identified 40 novel nidoviruses in a variety of vertebrates using artificial intelligence. These RNA viruses have the potential to cause a pandemic and deadly diseases through crossbreeding. Mammals may go through similar processes, and bats are probably where these viruses are most likely to hide.

Experts have issued a warning that the phenomenon of "crossbreeding" between distinct viruses may give rise to the creation of an entirely new, modified virus possessing potentially more hazardous traits. The German Cancer Research Centre's (DKFZ) virologists believe that these viruses could potentially spark a new COVID-19-like pandemic.

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) Composes Nidoviruses

This natural virus evolution occurs as different virus species create new pathogens inside vertebrates. “Using a new computer-assisted analysis method, we discovered 40 previously unknown nidoviruses in various vertebrates, from fish to rodents, including 13 coronaviruses,” said DKFZ group leader Stefan Seitz.

Researchers note that most of these viruses are still unknown to humans because scientific studies have primarily focused on viruses that cause diseases in humans, domestic animals and crops. However, with the new AI-assisted method, scientists were able to analyze 3,00,000 data sets and derive insightful data simultaneously. Nidoviruses consist of ribonucleic acid (RNA) and possess common characteristics that distinguish them from all other RNA viruses and document their relationship.

Official Statements By Researchers

The researchers found that when host animals are infected with different viruses concurrently, a new virus may emerge as a result of the recombination of viral genes. “Apparently, the nidoviruses we discovered in fish frequently exchange genetic material between different virus species, even across family boundaries,” said Stefan Seitz, according to a report in Science Daily.

This virus evolution is more pronounced and radical when two viruses from entirely different families interact. Such evolution may lead the virus to cause fatal and dangerous diseases to the host animal. “A genetic exchange, as we have found in fish viruses, will probably also occur in mammalian viruses,” explained Stefan Seitz.

Such natural crossbreeding processes among viruses can easily occur in bats, which are known to carry a large number of viruses inside their bodies. Researchers suggest that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus may have also developed among bats.

Viruses That Can Cause Pandemic

1. Ebola

Death toll: There were 28,616 cases and 11,310 deaths from Ebola in West Africa in 2014; 3,456 cases and 2,276 deaths are from the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2. Marburg virus disease

Death toll: An earlier outbreak in 2005 in Angola resulted in over 200 infections, 90% of which were fatal; in the most recent outbreak in Uganda in 2017, there were 3 cases, all of whom died.

3. Lassa fever

Death toll: According to experts, there are between 100,000 and 300,000 cases of Lassa fever worldwide each year, with about 5,000 fatalities. However, because of poor surveillance and scant evidence of infections in previously non-endemic areas, it is difficult to estimate the true toll.

4. MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus)

Death toll: 2,519 cases and 866 deaths have resulted from intermittent outbreaks since the illness was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

5. SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)

Death toll: Between the end of 2002 and July 2003, in less than a year, 8,273 cases and 775 deaths were linked to the virus.

6. Nipah

Death toll: The Kerala outbreak in 2018 resulted in 23 cases and 17 fatalities.

7. Zika

Death toll: More than 500,000 cases of Zika, 18 fatalities, and 3,700 babies born with birth defects were reported in 2015 and 2016.

8. Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Death toll: In Afghanistan, where cases have been rising steadily, 483 cases and 59 fatalities were reported in 2018.

9. Rift Valley fever

Death toll: During an outbreak that occurred in South Africa in 2010 and 2011, there were over 250 cases of humans and 25 fatalities.

10. Monkeypox

Disease toll: Approximately 6% of the 300 individuals who contracted monkeypox during the Nigerian outbreak in 2017 and 2019 also died. More than 5,000 people are thought to have been affected by the DRC outbreak.